Proper lighting while conducting dental procedures is of vital importance. Generally, dental lights include a head assembly mounted on an articulating structure to permit spatial repositioning of the light head as appropriate. One or more lamps are mounted within a housing of the assembly to emit light from a reflector, which then reflects the light to the oral cavity of a patient. One or more handles are typically provided on the light head to facilitate spatial reorientations of the head. The handles of a dental light may be integral with the light head.
Dental lights are typically specialized in design as compared to other medical related lights. The partially seated postures typical of a dental patient in a patient chair differ from the supine position typical of a medical patient lying on a table. Dental procedures impose a special requirement of providing excellent illumination for an oral cavity. A dental operatory differs in arrangement from a typical medical operatory; fewer personnel are involved in most dental procedures, and a dental provider thus tends to be more proactive in positioning the light. Also, most lights include switches or buttons on one of their sides that provide various functions such as on/off, dimming, color, etc.
A dental light is usually focused by positioning the reflector at the appropriate distance and orientation with respect to the oral cavity of a patient. Accordingly, the dental provider may find it necessary to grasp the handles associated with the light head from time to time during a procedure, particularly if the patient's head is repositioned. The handles are thereby contaminated.
The importance of maintaining sterile or aseptic conditions in a dental operatory has been increasingly well recognized. Methods and devices that have been adopted for maintaining clean conditions in a dental operatory are discussed by the introductory portions of U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,058.